Nocturnal furry things live in the woods, and their territory is just beyond your cozy bed. A wall separates you from the wild unknown and that’s why you shit the bed (don’t tell mom).

No nightmare is complete without a watery abyss. Do you remember the first time you went fishing? The tasty worm danced on a rusted hook, and then the sacrificial bait sank below a realm of docile waves. Something ate the worm. Your imagination wrestled with a mythological aquatic monster, while your arms wrestled with a tiny sunfish.

You may have won the fishing match, however, the realm below the waves is still large enough to contain invisible mysteries (and probably a leviathan).

There was also that fateful, cold night when you took out the garbage and then somehow looked up at the night sky. Perhaps the pungent smell of decayed apple cores persuaded your nostrils to tilt upward. Who knows. Stellar radiation forever burned the memory inside your brain. Starlight singed those delicate senses. The cosmic eternity above your head caused questions to blastoff inside your vast mind: are we alone in the universe? Will I be abducted by aliens? Do probes hurt? Are crop circles a hoax? Who’s mutilating my neighbor’s cows?

The void between the stars is filled with hydrogen gas…and unanswered questions.

You’re Scared And Don’t Even Know It

What do beds, closets, shadows, lakes, and space have in common? Darkness.

Dust bunnies might be the only creatures living underneath your bed, and your closet may no longer hold a Boogeyman hostage, but there was a time when those territories were unexplored. Monsters exist between the known and unknown—until the land has been charted—we fill in the details with our own feral fears and preconceived expectations of how the world should be.

Some of our ancestors were digested by a saber-toothed tiger, and that’s the reason why unknown territories kick our brain in the wrinkly crotch. If you’re scared of the unknown, blame your ancestors. Just kidding. Kind of.

Ancient cartographers knew how to inspire young adventurers. Depictions of aquatic monstrosities patrolled certain parts of the unexplored ocean. Maps were branded with curious illustrations, and exaggerated fables enabled jumbo squids to wrap their arms around our helpless imagination. The unexplored ocean was just like the unexplored territory underneath your cozy bed. You populated the realm underneath the mattress with unseen abominations, or perhaps Freddy Kreuger. Sailors populated uncharted waters with ugly krakens. And just like when you risked your life taking a peek underneath the bed, and discovered nothing but floor and dust—sailors mapped uncharted waters and discovered…well…more water or land.

Space: The Final Fear

Paranoid thoughts are not bound by Earth’s gravity. Our feral fears are also imprinted on the night sky. Every “unexplained” point of light transforms into a UFO—piloted by a voyeuristic grey alien. Anything could be up there, right? Just like underneath your bed, and just like underneath the murky lake. The universe is dark and unknown…a cosmic double whammy. We have been daydreaming since the beginning of time. Primitive hominids orbited a bonfire and pondered what could be hiding above our heads.

We’re just playing whack-a-mole. And we’re losing. Clunk a question over the head and another pops up somewhere else. Smack that question down and then another pops up over there. Answers create more questions. And questions create more fear.

Jean-luc Picard was captain of the Starship Enterprise. He had a fancy phaser which delivered instant death and let’s not forget about those useful photon torpedoes! You can’t travel around the universe without ’em.

Despite all the technological gadgets and complicated doodads—Jean-luc Picard still had to deal with damage reports and participate in occasional skirmishes against Borg infantry.

Think about it: how many extinctions events have occurred? Asteroids smacked the reset button more than a few times. Nobody knows how severely asteroids impacted (see what I did there?) humanity’s overall development, especially during the Ice Age. There is some evidence that biblical global catastrophes were inspired by asteroid or comet collisions, which caused certain parts of the world to become really, really wet. Civilizations could have been washed down the drain. Hop in a time machine and imagine living among the ruins of an advanced civilization, listening to an inebriated witch doctor describe Armageddon’s fiery details.

Would you be scared? Absolutely! And you wouldn’t even have a bed to shit in.

Don’t Worry, Be Scared

The unknown seduces primal fears and inspires our spines to shake, rattle and roll…that’s what it feels like to be human. We’re all scared of the dark—a cosmic rock may hit the reset button, or a jumbo squid may lurk within the watery abyss.

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Instructions for submitting to SlasherMonsterMagazine is as follows. Please read everything on this page before submitting. SUBMISSION PROCEDURES Instructions: All fiction, poetry, and art (drawings, collages, photography, etc.) are to be emailed to slashermonstersubmissions@gmail.com. Guidelines: SlasherMonster is seeking original horror and dark fantasy work. All types of horror and dark fantasy are welcome. No subject should be considered off-limits, and we encourage [Click Here & Be Scared!]

Glad you could join the party, Lady Cindy! The Cyborgs sure crashed the party, didn’t they? I toast you with a sparkling glass of Romulan Ale, and three cheers for Fly who can throw a bash like no other monster. 🎂🍾🥂

Hey Fly Trap Man,I’ve been to outer space, hundreds of times, through watching every episode of Doctor Who, and he’s often come around and picked me up in his Tardis, ever since I was a teenager, and I’ve experienced lots of scary and frightening moments, and now in my late sixties, I still have those nightmares about all the terrifying first encounters. Running away from Abzorbaloff, hiding from the Cybermen, avoiding being exterminated by the Daleks, hunted by Judoon’s, escaping the fiery tentacles of the Draconian’s, ducking under the slimy green claws of the Foamasi’s, and blanking out telepathic mind burning messages of the gruesome Ood’s.. In the end I’ve ended totally petrified at night, and fearful of the sounds of the alien monster’s space-ships landing in my courtyard, and I’m all alone by myself these days……..(Can’t wait for the new series of Doctor Who later in the year)…….

You’re a true space cadet! I wrestled Klingon warriors…and lost. I watched a few episodes of Doctor Who, but that particular show wasn’t televised too much. Not as much as Star Trek. Watch out for Cybermen! Thanks for reading and commenting.

You never know what lurks behind
As the night claws,slowly till 12hrs passed &light of pain takes its place in and amongst the weeds,I know not of its evil disposition,I only see the wake of its disaster,where does this monster hails from but none other than in my junk mail
As Unusally Sheldon